New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-06-15
THE WHEAT BUBBLE BURSTS
PANIC IN THE CHICAGO MARKET.
PRICES FOR JUNE AND JULY FALL 20 CENTS
B(ISHEI.

RosENFELD 4 CO., CLIQUE HOUSE, GO D0wH
WITH CRASH DRAGGING OTHERS WITH THEN
WIDESPREAD EFFECT OF THE FALL IN
vALUEs-FAILUREs IN MILwAUKEE-THE
COMBINATION BURIED BY THE BIG
WHEAT RECEIPTS.
CHICAGO, Juno 14.-Demoraization and financial
disaster overlook the great wheat clique to-day.
The much vaunted combine" is smashed and
bankrupt. Tho wheat pit was In panic for an
hour. The June option dropped from 01 3-4 Ia
72 3-4 cents. the most sensational colaPc seen in
this market in its history The l6, 900 900 bushels
Of grain collected here, and held by q mysterious
combination Of which nobody knows anything to
q certainty will now be sold out "under the ham,
mer.' Maurice Rosenfeld g. Co., one Of the most
prominent Of the clique brokerage houses. have
announced their suspension. The losses on tho
decline by this concern will probably amount to
S40O 900. Irwin, Green g. Co., another Of tho
clique houses, announce their compete stability
and have promptly put up all the margins called
them. About e. j Kershaw q Go. there has been
no announcement, and there is faint hoIe chat
they may pull through, but they are behindin them
margins. The collapse is worse than the failure
Peter McGeoch and will entail worse losses. Tho
first intimatiOn of trouble in the wheat deal ap-
peased day before yesterday, when the July peg
at S5 1-2 cents was broken through. That let
which was kept at 92 l-2 cents, was inevitable.
Joe" Wiltshire, Of Cincinnati, was here on Sat
urday. Sunday and yesterday. Repeated inter-
views have been held between the Cincinnatians
and their Chicago brokers. After one interview
at the Rcheleu last night Kershaw left the hotel
apparently so troubled in spirit That those who saw
his face felt that panic was inevitable. 1t is
said that Leopold Bloom, scalrer. who learned Of
the sensational character of that interview, sold
wheat on the strength Of 1t and made S6s,000 on
the decline this morning. There have been o
few who asserted that this wheat corner was the
manipulation Of Harper, who repudatcd his losses
made in 1881. The transactions, however became
SO enormous and the undertaking vast that
at last the report that this deal backed by tho
Standard Oil people. by H. NJ. Fagler and Rookie
feller began to be believed. The assertion that ID
was really Harper, Of the Fidelity Bank, Cincin-
natl, is now supposed TO be true.
description Of the scene at the height Of the
panic would mean a great deal TO trader, but
little to an outsider. The excitement began al
the very opening of the Board with the break in
July. For a while the clique houses waved of in
quiries and pretended that the break in July was
part or their programme. "If the crowd wants
to sell this wheat down. Rosenfeld said, "the
clique will simply take 1t at a lower range Of
prices" Rosented & Co. actually stood in the pit
and bid 92 cents for June while July was so
cents. But this show of courage was all to no
purpose One after another the alarming symp-
toms grew 1t was declared among other things that
there was run on the Fidelity Bank 40
Cincinnati July kept getting weaker and weaker
until finally Kosenfeld gave up the attempt to
bolster June. 1t dropped to 80 cents, and then tho
margin calls began to pour IN. This seemed to de-
eide the whole matter. Rosenfeld gave up the
struggle. His checks thrown out at tho
Chicago National Bank about 10 o'clock. The
failure was announced on the Board at about noon.
July fell to "a cents June TO 72l4. These were
the lowest figures heard Of Instead of q hubbnb
following the announcement there was an unusual
quiet. The market was stunned. There prob
ably not a firm on the floor that did not know that
the announcement meant os5tO II. Rosenfel1 Il
Co. we're only one of several houses that were
identified with the clique. Inquiry made 1t plain
at once that Irwin, Green & Co. were sound That
will probably save the trade millions of money.
As to Kershaw 81 Co.'S standing there was the ut
most uncertainty. There Is just now tremendous
pressure upon them but at o'clock Mr.. Kershaw
SAID ITO the best of my knowledge / an solvent"
Rosenfeld & Co.'s liabilities are an unknown
auantity. He had on his books, 1t was said az his
Office about 5000 600 bushels of July wleat on
which there is profit to the sellers now varying
from D 10 10 centS Inc Nouiu
to 81. 500, ,0Oo If there margins up; but
the impression is that the firm has up about
ST. 900, 900 In margins. Frank johnson. of this
firm said THE receipts of wheat were such that
the money simply gave out The managers of the
cique made promises which they probably could
not fulfil"
At 2 o'clock a clerk in c. J. Kershaw & Co.'S
Office said: 1--WE expect to go through all right
Whether we can not will be decided within an
hour" Kershaw's boy was IN the delivery at l:3o
O'clock and took some wheat The other de-
livery boys however, refused In good many
instances to deliver the wheat to him, not knowing
whether it would be paid for or not dispatch
from Cincinnati at p m. said The run on the
Fidelity Bank begins aud ends in Chicago mean
ing that there was no run at all on the bank.
Some idea OF the collapse in the price of wheat
can be guessed from the following figures June
wheat, the coruered option. sold last week up 10
043a cents. 1t sold as lately as this morning at
92s. cents. After the failure of NJ. Rosenfeld 81
Co. it dropped to 7214 cents The collapse IN July
was not so serious, for there was some doubt
whether there really to be corner In July.
But July wheat sold one day last week ut 81 cents
aud this morning il opened at s33i cents. 1t sold
as low as 73 cents and probably lower when the
panic was at Its height. On the afternoon
board there was for awhile renewal OF
the most exciting scenes OF the day.
When tho secretary made his way to the gallery
with his uavel it was known at once that failures
were to be announced. Following his rapping
Secretary Stone announced the failure of HamiI
& Brine and E. w, Barley 4 Co; The announcs-
ment OF tho first failure produced decided sensa-
tjon. as HamIll g. BRINE has been house st anch
and in good repute George G. Brine Is one OF the
most talented men on the Board and director.
His failure was followed by execrations upon .
cilque which had wrought such ruin. 1hs an
nouncement of the failure of +. w. Bailey 90.
Immediately followed Then came me most I'M
nort.nt announcement of the day. IL was from
c. J. Kershaw g. Co. and was as follows:
GENTLEMEN We have assurances of ample funds 70 meet
all calls upon tomorrow morning. ana request s' ~
trades Win US oe ci0''" o"' C. J. KERsHAw Co.
yell of delight followed this announcement az
nromi.e nniess he was certain of Its fu,filment.
Wheat Wheat Immediately advanced from s4 cents for